


Come Home Safe

by sceawere



Series: 'These Moments' Verse aka John OC Family Verse [2]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 11:03:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21014717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sceawere/pseuds/sceawere
Summary: John comes home after a kill.-“Hell, John. I could have shot you” you chastised him, even as your blood ran warmer in relief.He turned his head slightly when you whispered but stayed crouched down by Katie’s bed, stroking her hair softly. His knuckles were torn and weeping and you furrowed your brow as you stepped closer.“John, what happened?”“I’m sorry for scaring you. I just wanted to see her” he whispered.





	Come Home Safe

The sound of the door shutting downstairs was enough to pull you from your sleep, your eyes flitting back and forth behind your lids as the steps came up the stairs. You waited for John to open your bedroom door but after a long time of waiting with no movement your skin starting prickling. The tell-tale creak of the floorboard outside your kids’ room was enough to throw you from the bed, hand gripping at the gun under the pillow, trailing it behind you.

You slipped the door open slowly, trying not to catch their attention, and poked your head around the frame just enough to try and get eyes on the intruder. There was no-one visible, but the door to the kids’ room was open and a chill ran through your blood as you rushed down the hallway.

The gun was up in front of you as you entered but you dropped it quickly once you were in.

“Fucking hell, John. I could have shot you” you chastised him, even as your blood ran warmer in relief.

He turned his head slightly when you whispered but stayed crouched down by Katie’s bed, stroking her hair softly. His knuckles were torn and weeping and you furrowed your brow as you stepped closer.

“John, what happened?”

“I’m sorry for scaring you. I just wanted to see her” he whispered.

He kept his head down, turned away from you enough that you could only just make out his profile in the shadows of the room. You kneeled down beside him, turning his chin towards you.

“Fucking hell, John. Get up” you commanded.

You shoved the gun into his coat pocket and used your now free hands to reach around and grasp each of his arms, pulling him up with you and out of the room.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to see her”

“And what if she would have saw you? You can’t go to the kids until you clean up John, we talked about this” you shook your head.

“I know, I’m sorry”

You pulled him into the bedroom, switching the lamp on.

“John…”

He stood where you left him, staring at nothing in particular. He had blood spattered over his face, his shirt, his hands.

You took a deep breath, hands slack at your sides. “I’ll bring the bath in”

“Leave it, its fine”

“You need to get cleaned up”

“It’s late, it’ll take you too long. I’ll just…”

He paused, his nostrils flaring with the breaths he was taking to contain himself. You stepped over to him slowly, dropping your forehead to his collar. He stayed still for a few moments, but then he pulled you to him, his nose burrowing into your hair.

“It’s alright, Johnny. You’re home, it’s ok”

He sobbed into your hair and you held him close. When he’d settled a bit, you pulled back, looking up at him.

“I’m gonna get a bath going, yeah? You put the fire on” you murmured to him, wiping his hair softly back from his sweaty forehead.

He nodded, wiping at his nose. “Yeah”

You pecked a kiss to his cheek, remembering to take the gun out of his pocket and shove it back in the drawer by your bed before you left the room. You poked your head into the kids room, pulling the door closed.

You dropped a towel to the floor and skidded the heavy tub along on top of it, into the bedroom that was quickly warming with the fire John had set. You pushed it into the entry with a whisper of his name and he came to pull it in fully while you went downstairs to set pots boiling.

You had the last one going when he came down, dropping his stained clothes in the ash bin to burn in the morning. He stood behind you, wrapping his arms round your waist.

“The kids were feeding the birds before, out in the yard” you told him, trying to distract him from the thoughts you could almost feel crowding out into the room.

“Yeah?”

“Hmmm. There’s a nest up in the tree over there and they were flying about. We put a little dish out there with some grainy bits for them to pick at. Had the baby sat on the sill watching them half the afternoon, you should have seen ‘em. Consumed with it, they were”

You felt his cheek pull with a smile against the side of your head and you covered his hands with yours on your stomach. Small drops of rain were pattering against the glass now, shimmering in the low light of the street lamp. You both stood there together listening to the light hiss of the gas flames, the bubbling of the water, the settling of the house around you.

“She was going to shoot Tommy. I had to” he insisted.

“I know”

“I don’t like shooting women”

“I know. It’s stupid but I know” you rolled your neck.

“It’s not stupid”

“Killing someone should be as hard as it is. Shouldn’t matter who it is”

“Is this meant to be you making me feel better?”

You hummed. “If you wanted someone to kiss your arse, you wouldn’t have married me. I’ve made it explicit over the years that I do not give a fuck”

He chuckled against you back, dotting a kiss to the edge of your throat.

“Is that why you went to see Katie?” you pushed, and he sighed.

“Hmmm. The whole way back, all I could think: ‘one day that might be my Katie’. The whole way back”

You shook your head, “It won’t be Katie. Anyway, Katty can shoot better than you and she’s only 6”

He laughed again and you smiled, turning your head to him. You nuzzled your nose against his.

“I love you”

“I love you”

“All you have to do is come home safe at the end of it. The rest we can talk about. You know that?” you asked, and he held you a little tighter.

“I know that”

“Good. Now bring the pots up, I’m gonna wipe you down, mister”. You unravelled yourself from him, smacking at his back on the way past to the stairs. He smiled at you as you went, laughing, and shaking his head to himself.


End file.
